Book Reviews

Since Michael Jackson’s first World Guide to Beer, beer writers have tried to embrace the full scope of the third-most-popular beverage on the planet. Not an easy task, but generally very enjoyable for the reader. Bill Yenne continues the tradition with this beautiful and rich survey. When Jackson first wrote his book, the beer world... View Article

It’s impossible to talk about Bend Beer without acknowledging that Anheuser-Busch InBev recently acquired 10 Barrel, one of the breweries that author Jon Abernathy lauded as part of the vanguard of inspiring, independent, fast-growing Central Oregon breweries. Even Abernathy—the long-time blogger behind The Brew Site, who is accustomed to dealing with last-minute beer news—must be... View Article

It’s an often overlooked fact that New England’s beer history dates back to the arrival of the Pilgrims. “Beer was water. It was food, too,” writes author Lauren Clark. Rhetorically, she asks, “What? The Pilgrims landed at Plymouth because they were low on beer?” From there Crafty Bastards: Beer In New England from the Mayflower... View Article

I love two things about this book right out of the gate. First, it is beautiful and feels great. Lovely photographs and nice paper can go a long way. Second, it is designed to take the average beer lover from wondering about homebrewing to making his or her own “jaw-droppingly” great beer. For the first... View Article

Brew Britannia (Aurum Press, Paperback, $19.99, 298 pp) charts the course of the tumultuous changes in the English beer scene. Jessica Boak and Ray Bailey, the voices behind a popular blog, tell a very engaging tale of “the strange rebirth of British Beer.” While very similar in structure to the American renaissance, the twists and turns... View Article

Visit the gift shop at the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin and you’re likely to find all sorts of breweriana based on the great series of animal advertisements Guinness produced between 1934 and 1961. You’ve undoubtedly seen a lot of them: the toucan flying with two pints of Guinness on its beak, the ostrich with a... View Article

At times channeling Ken Kesey, Bruce Chatwin and Charlie Papazian, William Bostwick, in his new book, The Brewer’s Tale: A History of the World According to Beer, intersperses a keen understanding of the nuances of modern craft beer culture with detailed historical narratives. Meticulously researched and often possessing fresh and unrecycled references, the book is... View Article

Ontario Beer: A Heady History of Brewing from the Great Lakes to Hudson Bay By Alan McLeod and Jordan St. John History Press, Paperback, $21.99, 176 pp This engaging book goes through the ups and downs of an oft-overlooked area in the world (with a beer history dating back to the 1600s) and helps illuminate... View Article

Soon after falling in love with specialty beer, Nicholas Gingold surveyed the world of beer books and noticed something was missing. There were plenty of guidebooks to breweries and books on styles and tasting, but few books focused solely on the people behind the beverage. So Gingold, a native Californian who had recently returned home... View Article